PRESS RELEASE Of interest to editors and journalists covering: Legal/Law, Government, Shipping/Transportation, FL Business News United States Postal Service Gets 'Special Delivery' of the Lawsuit Kind -- Sued For Intentionally Deleting Parts of Employees' Time Records To Avoid Paying Overtime Law Offices Of Samuel W. Bearman Files Suit That May Impact 200,000 USPS Workers Nationwide TAMPA, FL - March 22, 2004 /Send2Press Newswire/ - In perhaps one of the most significant and far- reaching lawsuits against the United States Postal Service (USPS) in recent times, four named postal employees (three active and one retired) are alleging the USPS has "systematically and purposefully" altered their electronic time slips... and...seeped money out of their paychecks. But this is not just about four postal workers. The case is also brought as a class action. As a class action suit, the number of plaintiffs may ultimately increase to over 200,000 nationwide. That is the number of postal workers that may have been affected by the purposeful actions of USPS supervisors in the United States. The crux of the suit is that Plaintiffs and other employees were paid less than the salary they should have been paid for the work they did on behalf of the USPS. The suit alleges that Defendant's supervisors intentionally made deletions on regular and overtime hours, impacting letter carriers, rural route letter carriers, mail handlers, window clerks, drivers and other employees. This has resulted in a reduced salary to the employees. The lawsuit, filed on January 30, 2004 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District Court of Florida (Tampa Division), seeks to redress the wrongs caused by various USPS supervisors. In a three- count complaint filed by Attorney Samuel Bearman of Pensacola, Florida, the suit alleges the USPS has violated the following laws: 1. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) 2. The Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) 3. The Privacy Act of 1974 Plaintiffs' attorney, Samuel Bearman, believes that "The number of present or past postal workers affected may number in the hundreds of thousands." He adds, "They deserve to get paid for the work they performed." Bearman was first notified of the USPS actions by Lenny Perez and Dean Albrecht, of the Federal Employees Compensation/EEO Consultants in Clearwater, FL. According to them, some USPS workers may have been paid less than they should have for over four years. Law Office Of Samuel W. Bearman, 820 N. 12th Ave., Pensacola, Florida 32501. (850) 438-1000. More information: http://www.bearmanlaw.com Media Contact: Samuel Bearman, Esq. (Plaintiffs' attorney) of the Law Office Of Samuel W. Bearman +1-850-438-1000 sbearman@bellsouth.net # # # [ source of news = Law Office Of Samuel W. Bearman ] ref: http://www.send2press.com/2archive/2004/pr_04_0322-bearman.txt http://www.send2press.com/2archivePDF/pr_04_0322-bearman.pdf --------------------------------------------------------------------------- *IMPORTANT NOTE TO MEDIA: to reach the organization releasing this news, please contact: sbearman@bellsouth.net (media only) If used for publication, please send specimen copy. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- S2PRN-NS/4c/ FL / Tampa, Florida / Copr. (c) 2004 Send2Press. This release was issued on behalf of the above organization, who is solely responsible for accuracy of content, by Send2Press(tm), a unit of Neotrope(R). http://www.Send2Press.com